


Visitors

by hadanran



Category: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee - Finn/Sheinkin/Reiss
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Space, F/F, F/M, M/M, OOC sometimes but for a good reason, but also manipulative, but not really???, it's great fun, leaf is sort of crazy, leaf's too nice, might be sad idk yet, sorta stockholm syndrome??, takes place in space
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-28 08:27:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18206012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hadanran/pseuds/hadanran
Summary: One medic.One engineer.One robot.One co-pilot.One stowaway.One captain.Who's who?I guess you'll just have to find out!Romance, plot twists, sci-fi violence, and a lot of dramatic yelling await!





	1. The Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> The roles each of the characters play will be revealed in the chapter named after them! Stick around to get the whole story!
> 
> (Fifteen chapters are planned, but there might be more or less depending on how this story goes :))

It was the day before Christmas Eve on Earth.

It would've been a lovely night except for the fact that he wasn't on Earth. 

He was the captain of a fighter space shuttle in deep space right about now. 

There was a buzz at the door.

"Come in."

"Hi, honey. How are you feeling?" It was his mother.

"I'm the captain of this ship, mother. Of course I'm fine. If I wasn't, they'd knock me down a peg."

"Are you sure? They got to you pretty badly, dear."

What she was referring to was a quick skirmish they'd ran into the other day (whatever could be considered a "day" in space). The co-pilot had steered the ship right into space-pirate territory. _This_ young man's mother was referring to when a few of the pirates cuffed their way on board and shot him in his left knee.

He glanced down at his knee, which was now wrapped liberally in bandage.

"I'm fine."

"Okay. Just be careful honey. I love you." His mother gave him a hug - which his pride would not let him return - and left the room. His earpiece buzzed,

"Hello?"

**"Captain? We need you on the lower deck as soon as possible."**

"I'll be there soon. Thank you." He adjusted the hat on his head and stood up, immediately feeling pain shoot through his leg. He winced, groaning reflexively. "Fuck this." He whispered to himself, heading for the door. Right when he stepped on the trigger for the door to slide open, another spike of pain ran up his leg, "What the fuck?!" He crouched down in the open doorway. 

_My leg should not be in this much pain. I know that for damn sure._

He tapped his earpiece again,

"Destination. A report for medical attention to captain's quarters, stat. A hold on lower deck."

_Buzz._

**"Right away, captain."**

He struggled to stand back up again, but he managed. He carried himself over to a chair, and sat down, clutching his knee. He glanced out the large window, watching small rocks float by slowly. Right now, the ship was passing through a small floating space colonization. A few people were milling around outside their homes, talking with each other and pointing at the ship. It could only be assumed that they never see ship this big out here. After a few minutes of solitude, a shuttle medic came running through the doors.

She wore a white dress that went down to her knees and a clear plastic-like apron. She had a white band around her upper-arm that had a red-cross on it. Her long auburn hair was tied into a ponytail.

"Captain! Are you okay?!" She exclaimed, scurrying up to him. He didn't answer the question,

"You _did_ take the bullet out of my knee earlier, didn't you?" He asked through clenched teeth.

"Of-Of course! We would never risk leaving it in your leg! That would be too dangerous! I-"

He cut her off, "I think there was a chip in the bullet." He breathed heavily through the pain, "There must've been some sort of chip that-" He groaned, "That stayed in my leg when you removed the bullet that's still causing damage." His face scrunched up in pain and he held in a scream.

"Oh no..." She whispered, "We need to get you to the infirmary right away!" She tapped into her own earpiece, "Destination! Medical backup to the captain's quarters! Now!" She yelled. Chaos ensued over the earpiece. Three other medics showed up with cases in their hands, each case having a red cross on it as well. The medic helped him stand up while the three others kneeled down in front of him and opened the cases.

"This may pinch a little." One took out a needle and stuck it into his knee. His whole leg immediately went numb and they gave him a mask to put over his face. 

"Okay. Let's get to the infirmary. Quickly."

\--

He woke up on an infirmary cot, and all of the pain in his leg was gone. He leaned down to inspect his leg, only to find it-

Oh. 

Oh _god_.

_Well, at least they know how to do their job right._

He looked down to see that all of his leg below the knee had been hacked off and replaced with a robotic leg. He didn't really care much. It's not like it would be much different to having a real leg. The door to the infirmary slid open and the medic that had come to his report walked in.

"Oh, Captain. You're awake! How're you feeling?" She asked, setting down her clipboard.

"Much better. Thank you." He responded, "I may miss my leg, but it's not that big of a deal, after all."

She laughed quietly,

"Yes. I'm glad you're taking this so well. The procedure took quite a while. Twenty-six hours." She smiled, beelining across the room to a large control desk that had logs of all the people who've visited the infirmary. 

"Has the co-pilot been navigating our route while I've been out?" He asked.

"Yes. He has been fine on his own. Though, let us hope he doesn't steer us into space-pirate territory again." She joked, entering the captain's infirmary visit into the control desk. The captain sat brooding in his own thoughts while the medic entered his departure time from the infirmary. The life of living in space for years at a time had never taken such a toll on him before. But he hadn't seen much of his family (besides his mother, of course) or his friends in three years. He hadn't breathed fresh air from Earth in three years.  
"Are you okay, sir?" She asked. He stayed quiet for a second.

_Sometimes..._

"I'm fine."

_I wish we could go back home._


	2. The Medic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Medic is introduced.

The medic finished entering the captain's departure time into the control desk.

"You're all set. Thank you for being so patient." She smiled to the captain.

"Thank _you_ for fixing my leg." He responded, getting up and bending his joints to test how his new robot leg works. Satisfied with the results, he started towards the door,

"Wait, Captain?" She called after him. He turned around,

"Yes?"

"Happy Christmas Eve, sir." She said. He stood silently for a moment before nodding,

"To you as well." And he left through the door. She shook her head silently to herself before hastening out of the room. Once she made it into the hallway outside of the infirmary, she placed her hand on the scanner next to the door. The electronic sign above the door now read "ABSENT" to show that there were no workers on duty at the moment. As she turned away from the wall and down the hall, someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around to the left and no one was there. She felt another tap on her other shoulder and she immediately knew what was going on.

"Oh my god, stop." She groaned, spinning around in a circle, looking for the perpetrator. Her eyes landed on the ship's main engineer. She was short, with her blonde hair up in one long braid. She had a dark blue hat over her head and a matching blue outfit. She held a box of advanced looking tools.

"What are you doing here?" The medic asked, "Shouldn't you be down on the A.I. deck? You know... Working?" 

"I just so happen to be on break." The engineer smiled smugly, "For a while, at least."

"Let me guess. The Counselmen called you to their office...?" The medic deadpanned. The engineer nodded her head, satisfied,

" _Uh_ -huh! But you know my dads... always just wanting what's best for me!" She began to walk away, "You can't blame 'em, though! I'd want what's best for me, too!" The engineer stopped in her tracks before she got too far away. She turned back around to face the medic, "Oh yeah, and... About your mom." 

The medic's heart dropped in her chest,

"If it's worth anything, I hope she gets back from the expedition soon." She said, barely above a whisper. She looked like she had something else to say, but ran off before saying it.

The engineer left the medic with a broken heart. Her mother was sent on an expedition a few Earth months ago to the Industrial District across space, but she hadn't come back yet. The team sent on that expedition was supposed to come back a week ago. Obviously, it didn't pan out like that. She turned and started down the hallway, opposite from the direction that the engineer headed. She entered the courtyard - which was all evidently artificial - and sat on a glass bench that was floating below a sculpture of a tree. She leaned forward, her elbows on her knees, and began to softly cry. Her tears filled her hands and fell onto the metal ground below her. The ground was covered with this terrible fake grass, and she watched her tears just sit on the plastic grass. It was a pitiful time. Nearly everyone who passed through the courtyard stopped and stared before realizing what they were doing and continuing by. The floating bench dipped in the air under someone else's weight.

"I'd say it's beautiful out here, but I'd know that I'm lying. It's desolating me just to look at it. It's lonely."

She looked up to see the stranger only to find it was no stranger at all. It was the co-pilot of the ship. He smiled down at her with sorrow. She sniffled and attempted to dry her eyes, laughing quietly, yet sadly,

"Oh... It's just you..." She sniveled, wiping at her nose with the back of her hand.

"What do you mean, _just_ me?" He stood up, causing the bench to float higher into the air, "I think... What you _meant_ to say is..." He cleared his throat and spoke in a raspy, high voice - no doubt imitating her own, "Oh, how happy I am to see you! I was waiting for you to show up!"

She let out a laugh, wiping her wet hands on her plastic apron,

"Thank you. You don't know how much I needed a laugh..." She coughed into her sleeve. He stepped away and looked over into the man-made pond that she was facing. He watched robotic fish swim around and try to act like the real thing. She caught a glimpse of him looking at the artificial life. It depressed her, it really did. All she wanted was to go back to Earth. She stood up and sidled up to his side. She gazed down at their reflections in the water. She knew that was one of the only things on this ship that was from her home planet.

"What're you thinking about?" She asked him. He hummed under his breath and shifted his weight to his other leg,

"Home. Our next landing on Earth was supposed to be in seven hours." He grunted.

"Wait, what?! We're gonna land on Earth today?!" She immediately perked up. He looked down at her with a smile of admiration.

"Technically tomorrow. It's nearing midnight now. But- The- uh- The captain told me." He sighed and looked up through the glass roof at the permanent stars, "Said he wanted all of us employees to make it home for the holidays. I think it's-"

"Really considerate of him..." Her lip trembled from joy. She looked up at him with wonder in her eyes. She'd finally get to see her family. Maybe even her mother would receive discharge from the expedition and make it into to see her. Tears started to slowly fall out of her eyes, and she watched at they landed in the water. 

"Tell the captain thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!"

"Woah, hold on a second. He said that if we take this detour back to Earth for the holidays, that the route would be too risky and we'd run into space-pirate territory. He thinks this is too much of a risk." He explained. She spluttered, the tears running down her face no longer being filled with joy,

"B-But-! We have to go back home! _None_ of us have been home or seen our family and friends for more than three years! My dad expected to see me ten months ago but he never did! I've wanted to see my mother! I was supposed to see her a week ago, but the team going on that expedition still hasn't returned! Why is no one doing anything about that?!" She cried, "I just want to go home and breath some actual air instead of this... this..." She gesticulated angrily, "Artificial shit!" 

Her words became slurred together and almost intelligible, "I feel so lost. I never wanted to be a... a-a medic in space. When I was a kid I just wanted to be an author. This may not be the life for me, but it is my goddamn duty. It's my duty to protect and care for people and.... a-and I _can't_ do that when I'm literal _lightyears_ away from them!" She paused, breathing heavily through gritted teeth, "So tell that to the captain." She sobbed quietly, not being able to look the co-pilot in the eyes.

"I..." He looked down at the ground, "I will."

She looked back up at him, an - although sad but - genuine smile forming on her face, before she suddenly jumped up and pulled him into a hug.

"Thank you..." She pulled away, "Thank you, Mister..."

"There's no need for real formalities here. Just call me the co-pilot for now." He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, "And you are?"

"O-Olive. Olive Ostrovsky."

"Well then, _Olive_. I'll relay the message for you."

"Thank you..." A real smile cracked across her face, "Again."


	3. The Robot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Robot is introduced.

**Processing neural network... Loading... Physical. Mental. Verbal. Reflexes. Feelings. Thoughts. Mechanism loading complete. A.I. shall awake in 3... 2... 1...**

A hand waved in front of her face.

"Hello~? You awake?" It was a short blonde girl, her hair in a braid, wearing a blue cap and outfit. An engineer. 

She looked down at the engineer, "Hello." She said.

"Ah! It's good to have you back! You blacked out for a while there," The engineer smiled, tapping into her earpiece. "Movement test. Examination begin." The engineer looked back up at her, "Can you show me the full extent of your limbs?"

She moved her arms all the way around, then her legs, being able to move them to the capacity of a gymnast.

"Perfect. Thank you. Welcome back. You may continue on with standard procedures now."

"Thank you." She stepped off of the platform she'd been placed on and the engineer escorted her out into the hall. Her earpiece buzzed,

**"Route to Captain's Quarters, please."**

"Yes, of course, Captain." She responded. She nodded to the engineer and began on her way, weaving through pristine white hallways, avoiding maintenance workers and passengers of the ship. The lights in every room in the ship turned blue, a sure sign that the Captain had an announcement. His voice came over the PA speakers across the ship.

**"Attention passengers and staff of the shuttle. I am here to report that we are now en-route to Earth-"**

Everyone cheered, some started crying tears of joy,

**"We will be back in time for Christmas. Our estimated time of arrival is..."**

The hologram signs posted evenly across the whole ship changed to say: "ETA: Earth in 9.4 hours".

**"Approximately nine point four hours. Please hang tight until we reach the destination. There may be some unpleasant turbulence, but rest-assured, we are safe. Thank you for your patience. Good night."**

The PA turned off and every staff member was ecstatic. Some ordinary passengers were too, but some didn't live on Earth, so for them, it was just an inconvenience.

She looked out the window into the courtyard to see the head medic staring into the pond, smiling and crying. The co-pilot entered the courtyard as well, causing the medic to turn around, run up to him, and hug him. 

She decided to see what was going on. She stepped on the trigger to open the sliding doors and stepped out, immediately feeling the drop in temperature in her condition sensors that allowed her to feel heat and cold. 

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" The medic continued to hug the co-pilot.

"Not a problem... Olive." He responded. Olive. So that was her name.

She stepped up to Olive and co-pilot.

"Hello." She said.

"Oh. Hello! I was wondering where you'd went. The captain was paging you earlier." The co-pilot pulled away from Olive reluctantly.

"Yes, I heard. I was just about to head over." She responded. Olive caught sight of her,

"Hi! Um, I don't think we've met? I'm Olive." Olive stuck out her hand.

"I'm... I... Uh..." She stuttered. How could she not remember her own name...? The co-pilot laughed nervously,

"Ah, nevermind that. She's just the captain's assistant. That's all." He clarified, gesturing subtly with his head for her to get going.

"Oh, yes. Of course. I should go. It was nice to meet you, Olive." She nodded her head and began towards the door. As she entered the West Hallway, towards the staircase, she heard voices coming from the cleaning closet. Voices that were not in her memory logs. She listened in on the furious whispers,

_"Sh! Someone might hear you!"_

_"Does it really matter at this point? This plan's going to fail either way!"_

She stored the two voices in her memory log - one female and one male - and continuing on her way to the Captain's Quarters. She figured if she showed up any later than she was already bound to, then she'd be in massive trouble. She hastened up the stairs and onto the pilot deck. She approached the Captain's Quarters, pressing her thumb into a scanner next to it. The door buzzed.

"Come in." He called from the inside. The door slid open for her and she saw the captain sitting in a chair, staring out at the vast stretch of space. 

"You paged for me earlier, Captain?" She stepped forward, arms folded behind her back.

"Yes. I did. Come sit." He gestured to a chair next to his. She obliged and sat down quietly next to him.

"What is it that you need, Captain?" She asked, settling into the comfortable chair. 

"Oh, not much, really. Just to check how your repairs went. They did go well, correct?" He inquired.

" _I_ think so." She responded, nonplussed.

"You still have all of your memories. Correct?" He raised an eyebrow. 

"Um... Well... Y-Yes, of course..." She gulped - although technically speaking she had nothing to gulp as a robotic A.I. 

"Right. Of course. Silly question. Preposterous for me to ask in the first place. But... Unfortunately my memory has taken a toll after my procedure." He gestured down to his leg which - to her surprise - was completely robotic.

"Oh my goodness! What hap-"

"I seem to have forgotten your name, A.I....?" He questioned knowingly. She clenched her fists and let out a breath. She could feel her artificial tear ducts charging up in the back of her system,

"I-I'm sorry. I-" Her eyes glistened as she looked at his strict face, "I don't know." 

He stood up and looked down at her, intimidatingly. He grabbed her by the chin forcefully and lifted her face up to look at him,

"A.I. Marcy. Marcy Park."

"Yes. Of course." She stood up to leave, but his hand caught her arm,

"Leaving so soon? Sit back down. Let's have a chat. Preferably about this... engineer."

"Of course. Captain."


	4. The Engineer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Engineer is introduced.

She began to clean up her workspace. It was nearing lights out time for the entire ship in just a few minutes. She picked up a few of her tools: a ray-solder gun, a container of red space-rock nails - one of the strongest materials that have access to -, an electronic multi-tool that she'd designed herself... She sighed, tossing off her hat and undoing her hair, taking it out of its braided state. Suddenly, she heard a _clang_ from across her laboratory. She glanced over to see nothing, so figured she might as well go pick whatever it was up. She cautiously walked around developing A.I.'s and broken parts scattered across the white floors, attempting to find the source of the sound. Before she could process what was happening, a hand grabbed all of her hair from behind in one foul swoop and swung it, banging her head against a large metal capacitor before she immediately fell unconscious to the sound of a pair of footsteps running away.

\--

She awoke in the middle of lights out period while everyone on the ship was sleeping.

_What happened...?_

Her head hurt, but she had no idea what was going on.

_I must've been so tired from repairing Marcy earlier that I passed out and hit my head... I should really get more sleep._

The problem was, she couldn't leave her laboratory now. Anyone who's caught outside in the halls during lights out period is interrogated and then thrown in solitary! The only way you could leave a room during this period was if you got direct authorization from the captain... Which she did not have, nor could she get it since he was very presumably sleeping. She shuffled over to her large monitor through the dark and placed her hand on its scanner.

**Identification match. Unable to access during light out. Please try again later.**

"Oh, come on!" She groaned and resorted to her next idea. She groped around the dark for her main work desk. Once she found it, she swiped her hand across the top, intertwining her fingers with a strange looking pair of glasses. She put them on to see what time it was (all of their clocks following Earth time),

**Identification match. Welcome back. The time is: five fifty-two A.M.**

After hearing the time, she yanked the glasses off her face. Okay, lights out period ends in eight minutes. She could leave then. If her calculations were correct, they should be arriving at Earth in approximately three-ish hours without any disruptions. Desperate to find a way to stall herself, she grabbed the glasses again. She put them on, reaching her hand out and using it to scroll through the options in her vision through the glasses. She could change her vision to appear like she was on Earth for real already. She sat down in her rolling chair and generated a holographic baseball and a matching bat in her glasses vision. She grabbed the bat - though not being able to feel it in real life - and hit the holographic baseball that was floating midair. When she hit it, she watched it fly far across her virtual reality world.

She repeated this simple game a few times until all of the lights in the ship turned back on, a signal that lights out period was over. She fumbled to take off the glasses, setting them back down on her desk, and stumbled up the stairs. She looked at the glowing hologram signs on the walls, they said: "ETA: Earth in 5 hours". 

She was way off! There must have been some delays during lights out period. Maybe turbulence or meteorites? She sighed and hurried through the halls, the only sound being her own shoes clacking against the hard floors. No one else was out. No else _wanted_ to be out at six in the morning.

"Why're you in such a hurry?" She heard a familiar voice behind her.

"Ah... Um... Olive! Hi." Was all she said. Olive cocked her head and raised a suspicious eyebrow,

"What're you up to...?" Olive asked. She shook her head,

"Nothing. N-Nothing, I just needed to check something with my rob-" She caught herself, "-friend. My friend Marcy."

"Oh! Marcy? I met her last night sometime around midnight! Very polite! She seemed lovely. How do you know her?" Olive smiled at the name of the robot, looking up to the sky, as if she was recalling the memory of meeting her.

"Um... I-I just met her on the job one day..." _Technically not a lie, discarding the fact that she created Marcy..._ "You're right. She really is lovely. Anyways... What are _you_ doing up so early?" She questioned Olive.

"Oh, just an early morning report to the East Wing. A few passengers feeling sick from the lightspeed travel the captain commenced last night." Olive shrugged, holding up her medic bag as if it were supposed to be some sort of proof.

"Okay... Well, I really should get going. I-If I stay out any longer, I won't get any work done today." She laughed nervously.

"Right! Well, I'll see you during the morning canteen hour!" Olive waved cheerfully and continued down the hallway quickly in the opposite direction.

She continued down the way she was heading, towards the Captain's Quarters where Marcy was often assigned - as the captain's assistant. As an engineer, she had immediate access to almost every room in the ship, just like Olive. The only rooms she couldn't get into were the Captain's, the Co-pilot's, and any of the Counsel leaders - like her fathers. Those rooms, she needed authorization for.

Once she got onto the Captain's deck, she approached the door, pressing her thumb against its scanner, causing the door to buzz.

"Come in." The captain's voice sounded. She was just surprised that he was awake this early. The doors slid open for her. She immediately spotted Marcy in the A.I. charger in the corner of the room. Her eyes were completely white and glowing blue, and her whole body was limp like a ragdoll, her frame being held up by a connector on her back and the back of her neck.

"Oh- She's-" She sighed, "She's asleep."

"Yes. It's battery should be full soon." The captain responded, not turning to look at either of them. She twitched at the use of the word "it".

"Why didn't you just let her go to her quarters and sleep?" She asked. The captain finally shot her a puzzled glance, "Why didn't you let her sleep? Why did you decide to-" She struggled to say it, "To-To ch-" She took a shaky breath in, "Ch... Charge her." She hated saying that about A.I. Especially Marcy. She just felt too real.

The captain spun around in his chair, staring the engineer down,

"I had a few questions for..." He glared at Marcy across the room, "It."

That broke her,

"Marcy is _not_ an 'it'! Marcy is a girl, just like me! Just like Olive, or your mother! How can you not see that?!" She yelled. She felt tears pool up on the waterline of her eyes.

"I have no interest in human recognition for these A.I. creations. They're not living, nor will they ever be. They're here to do work around the ship and that is all they _will_ do." He looked back at her, "And if you have any objections, feel free to express them _now_."

She bit her lip for a moment,

"Good. Now if you'll excuse me-"

"No! I do have objections! These A.I.s have blood running through their veins, pumping hearts, working organs, the ability to breathe, think, and even freaking reproduce if they _truly_ wanted to! And you're trying to tell me that she-" She gestured to Marcy, "Is not living?!"

She saw the lights on the charger that Marcy was in turn off - an indication that she was now awake - but Marcy still pretended to be asleep.

"She is just as living as me or you!"

" _It_ is nothing but a technologically advanced piece of metal and that's that. Now take it and go." The captain huffed, yanking Marcy's body out of the charging connectors and throwing her onto the floor. Marcy caught herself and stood up, her limbs trembling. Marcy stumbled helplessly over to the engineer, catching her on the shoulder. Marcy leaned in and whispered,

"Please. Let's just go. I can't stay here a second longer." The engineer could hear the tears seeping through Marcy's voice.

"Right." She obliged quietly, helping Marcy stand and escorting her as quickly out of the room as possible. Marcy grabbed her wrist, leading her down the hall to her quarters. Marcy placed her hand on the scanner and the door opened for her. Once they were inside, she immediately fell onto the bed that was floating a few inches off of the ground.

"Are you okay...?" The engineer sat down next to her. Marcy wept,

"Thank you. Thank you, Logainne. So much."

"Don't mention it. Now, can you hack into my lab's security cameras for me?"


	5. The Co-Pilot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Co-Pilot is introduced.

He sat at his post.

He checked the time.

**6:16 A.M.**

The ship was arriving at Earth in about five hours. 

He couldn't stop thinking about her. The-The girl he'd met last night. What was her name...?

Olive! 

He couldn't stop thinking about Olive.

A buzz sounded at the door.

"Come in." He said, lowly - having just woken up.

"Hello...? Co-pilot?" He knew that voice from anywhere.

"Miss Ostrovsky?" He stood up and turned around to see her standing timidly in his doorway. They both smiled at the sight of each other. Olive looked down shyly, as if she had something to say,

"Oh. P-Please just- Call me Olive. I-I was just making my morning medical rounds through the passengers. I somehow found myself on the captain's deck and... thought I'd stop by." She smiled sheepishly and looked up at him, brushing a stray strand of hair out of her face. He felt the tips of his ears turn red,

"Well, I'm glad you did," He started, "because I have some good news. Straight from the captain." He stood up and handed Olive a small sheet of glass with a hologram projected on it. He gestured down to it, "Increased vacation hours. You won't have to be running around the ship as often. Especially," He looked down at her feet, "In those shoes."

Olive glanced down at her own feet, her shoes being uncomfortable flats, "Oh! Heh. Yeah." Her face reddened, "But- Y- Um... Send the captain my thanks." She smiled, "It's very kind of him."

"Yeah. Kind. 'Kind' my ass." He grunted, pacing back towards his control desk.

"H-Huh?" Olive stuttered.

"You-You shoulda' heard what he was saying to Logainne! I was walking by outside the door while they were arguing! He- The captain - I mean - about how A.I.'s're just pieces of metal. Like they're not living or-or..." He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, "I don't know. I'm just talking nonsense."

"No... I don't think it's nonsense. When did you hear this...?" Olive asked, timidly.

"Just a few minutes ago, when I was coming back to my control desk from the lights out period. I heard him and Logainne Schwartz' arguing in his quarters or something." He said.

"Logainne...? I saw her walking this way towards the captain's deck. She said she was just going to check up on Marcy! Do you think Marcy was listening to their argument too?" Olive remembered, fiddling with the plane of glass he'd handed her just a second ago.

"No doubt..." He glanced over at the door before looking back into Olive's eyes, "Don't tell anyone I told you this, but... The captain usually confines Marcy to his quarters for interrogation purposes all night. He charges her in a station instead of letting her sleep." He cleared his throat uncomfortably and adjusted his glasses on his nose. He looked back up to see Olive's reaction and she had her hand hovering precariously over her open mouth,

"I never thought the captain would do something like that. He seems like such a nice man..." Olive's lip quivered,

"You know - no - don't get me wrong. I mean, he's a great guy - gotta love him - he's real nice usually. It's just- he has some... disagreeable tendencies. I'm sure you could agree with me?" He explained.

"Of course. B-But... You said-" She gulped, "You said the captain uses - what was her name? - Marcy?" The co-pilot nodded in response, "He uses Marcy for 'interrogation purposes'? Wh-What does that even mean?" She shuffled over to his control desk and set down the plane of glass in the only open spot.

"The captain is a little peculiar when he's not in the public eye. I mean - I would know - I've been working with him for over six years now. Yeah, six years ago, when we first met in training school. We were sixteen...ish years old, in the same class. He was a cool guy, funny, smart, nice, all that sugar shit. But, he'd always go on about how he'd never let an A.I. pilot a ship if he was on it. He was _huge_ about this, for some goddamn reason! Everyday when I came into class, he'd be there; talking to the same kid, ranting about A.I.'s! The kid he always talked to never even looked like he knew what the captain was talking about. He sort of just sat there, smiling, and rocking back and forth, like he didn't even want to listen. It was weird." He rubbed his tired eyes with a perplexed, yet confused look on his face.

"That's... strange." Was all Olive responded with.

"That kid was sort of a total mystery. The _really_ weird part was that the kid never even became a pilot. Or a co-pilot. Or a captain. He must've been in training school for a reason... When I found out he never became a pilot, I actually tried to track him down. I had a few ideas of what happened to him, but I never wanted them to be true just because... I don't know. He seemed too nice of a kid."

"What were your ideas...?" Olive sat down next to him.

"It's sort of stupid. After a few weeks of researching I found some weird stuff out. I still have the files." He explained.

"Can I see them? I-I'm sorry, I'm just really curious." Olive apologized.

"No, it's fine. The- Uh, hologram is just a few years old." He walked over to his filing cabinet and opened the top drawer. Dust flew out, causing him to cough. He paged through the clear glass tablets until he found the one he was looking for. He sat back down next to Olive and attempted to turn on the hologram. He pressed his hand up against the glass, the hologram turning on, scanning his palm and fingertips. The hologram blinked white and his files appeared on the screen.

"Here. Um. About three years ago when I researched this kid, I found out that in training school - whoever he was - he'd been using a fake name. I looked up the name he used in training school, and literally no one in the entire nebula had the name. He went by... like... Chupacabra or-or something. I don't know... It was close to Chupacabra." He tapped a file that opened up a picture. It was a semi-blurry picture of a young boy wearing their old training school uniform. He had dark brown hair that sort of looked like it was dyed. The brown was fading into some other color at the roots. He had dark green eyes and clear skin.  
"In school he always talked about running away from home the first time he got the chance." He tapped another file that brought up a few boxes, "I narrowed it down to three possibilities. Since he had to have been in training school for a reason, I think he learned how to fly a ship and got the hell off of Earth. I think either: one - he ran away to the industrial district, two - he ran off to join the space police, or... three - he became a space pirate." He zoomed in on the third option, which was circled in blue.

Olive blinked, "Do you _really_ think he became a space pirate...?" She asked, worriedly.

"He didn't seem like the type of boy who really would. But, considering his random disappearance after attending training school for so long and his use of a fake name in school, it seems very plausible." He explained, making a motion on the hologram and watching it go black.

"I don't w-" Olive began before she cut herself off, seemingly listening into her earpiece, "Right away." She turned to him, "The East Wing is calling me again. I have to go! I'm sorry!"

"Oh, it's not a problem. You'd better hurry." He said, putting away the hologram. She started towards the door, but caught herself before she exited,

"Wait... _Co-pilot_..." She turned around to face him.

"Yes?"

"May I _please_ get your name now?"

"Barfée. William Barfée." He smirked at her as she bit her lip and slowly turned away.

"Well, it was nice to finally _officially_ meet you, William."


	6. The Stowaway

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Stowaway is introduced.

He listened to his earpiece. A familiar voice rang through,

**"Come in, codename: Capybara. Come in, Capybara. This is codename: Acouchi speaking-"**

She was cut off by him, giggling.

**"What is it this time, Capybara...?"**

"Your-" He giggled, "Your codename is-" He lowered his voice to a whisper, "'Acouchi'." More giggles.

**"I cannot fucking believe you are our leader. Let's just go. Proceed to route B on the map."**

He tapped the side of his hologram shades and the map came up in front of his eyes. His route was to go down the maintenance hall of the East Wing and make it up the stairs onto the floor above the main floor: the captain's deck. The captain's deck consisted of all of the staffs' quarters, the captain's quarters, and - of course - the pilot room. 

Acouchi, Capybara, and Chinchilla (all codenames that the aforementioned 'Capybara' came up with) were illegal stowaways on the ship to take over its pilot system and successfully take full control of the ship and all of its passengers. The ship was only on auto-pilot during lights out period, though. Every other time, it's being driven by either the captain or the co-pilot, so it would be hard to infiltrate during the day. Just as Capybara got into the maintenance hall of the East Wing, the bell for the morning canteen hour rung; an indicator that the time just hit seven A.M. He heard the passengers and staff of the ship exit their rooms and begin to make their way to the ships enormous canteen. 

Wait a second.

_The canteen!_

The canteen would be the perfect place to hang around, and not be seen or eyed by suspicious staff. There was nothing to prove that he was a stowaway, and if staff came up to him to confront him, they would make a scene in front of everybody!

_Good thinking, me!_

He tapped into his earpiece,

"Come in, codename-" A giggle, "Acouchi! Come in, Acouchi! Change of routes. Detour through canteen. Departure from canteen: before eight A.M. I promise!" He whispered into the earpiece as he slipped through various now-empty hallways. He heard an irritated sigh through the earpiece while he slid through the canteen doors without being seen by any staff. His stood out like a sore thumb when put right next to all the passengers and staff. He wore a long grey, dusty trench coat and a red scarf that he would pull up over his nose and mouth so it was harder to tell who he was. He wore hologram glasses that covered his eyes so he looked even more suspicious. Upon entering the canteen, he pulled down his scarf and took off the glasses, storing them in his coat pocket; exposing his pale, freckled face and light blue eyes. Everyone else on the ship wore their district's colors. The industrial district mostly wore orange, the Earth-comers mostly wore varying shades of green, space-police wore specific blue uniforms, nebula district mostly wore purple, Mars district wore red, etc. etc... Maybe he could pass as coming from the Mars district because of his red scarf...

He felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see the girl he knocked out last night.

"Um, hello. I don't think I've seen you around?" She stuck out her hand, "I'm Logainne. Logainne Schwartzandgrubinierre." 

He reached out to recieve the handshake. She shook hands _very_ hard. It stung a little.

"I-I'm..." He choked, "Just-Just call me Capybara...." 

"Capybara...?" She chuckled, letting go of his hand, "Huh. It sounds a little familiar." She smirked crookedly at him, standing in silence for a few moments, 

"Hey, well I'l see you around... _Capybara_." Logainne saluted to him and strolled away to the meal line.

As Logainne left, he let out a long breath that he didn't know he was holding. His eyes darted around the canteen, looking for a place that wasn't _completely_ " crowded. His eyes landed on the bathroom door. Yes. He weaved and pushed his way through the dense crowd of people. Once he reached the door he knocked once before barging in. Stumbling into the bathroom, he flung himself into one of the stall, pressing the button to put up to barrier - which basically was the door for the stalls. Knowing the barriers were soundproof, he tapped into his earpiece again, "Hello? Is anyone there...?" 

**"Codename: Acouchi, here."**

**"Codename: Chinchilla, here."**

"Um- Okay-" He tried to speak for a few moments, but the only noises that came out were strained choking noises, "Uh- I-I'm in the bathroom off the canteen right now..." He sat down and put his head down between his knees, breathing heavily.

**"Capybara. Capybara, come in. Are you okay?"**

He gasped for air, "I-I'm fine. I just-" He shook his head, "I don't know what's happening to me-" He gritted his teeth and groaned, clutching his right forearm. He felt no pain, just a strange sensation that felt like it was spreading across his whole body, starting from his right hand.

**"Capybara. What's wrong?!"**

"This feeling..." He tried to remember anything that caused it...

He walked into the canteen, pulled down his scarf and hologram glasses. He shook hands with Logainne who squeezed his hand... unusually... hard.

"Th-Th-That... bitch!" He whispered to himself. She'd planted a bug the size of a cactus spine in the palm of his hand when they shook hands! The type she must've used are technologically designed to spread through the victim's system and make them lose all feeling in their body until the bug is deactivated, "C-Chinchilla- I-I-I-" He wiped the back of his hands against his eyes, "-backup..." He choked out before he fell unconscious.

\--

His eyelids felt heavy. His vision was blurry, but he made out that he was still on the ground of the canteen restroom. He groaned, at which, a small figure standing outside the stall turned around and stepped into the stall with him. She locked the barrier behind her and crouched down, picking him up by the front of the coat. He sucked in a sharp breath and felt like he couldn't move. His whole body was limp.

"Tell me. Who are you and why are you on this ship?!" She yelled through gritted teeth. It was Logainne.

"I-I don't know what you-" 

She slapped him across the face.

"I saw the footage. The-the footage! O-Of the security cameras in my laboratory!" She screamed in his face, "You knocked me unconscious! Who the _hell_ are you?!" She held another bug up to his face. He recognized it. It poisons the victim's bloodstream, giving them seven hours to live unless deactivated, " _Tell me now_!"

"O-Okay! M-M-My name i-is Leaf C-Coneybear!" He wanted to put on a show. He wanted to cry. That would really get her going. "I-I'll tell you everything you wanna know i-i-if you deactivate the bug!" His eyes started to tear up and he put on his best puppy-dog eyes. He forced one single tear to roll down his cheek. Logainne groaned and took out a remote control from her pocket, pressing a few buttons. He regained his ability to move his body.

And at that, he put her in a choke-hold, and held her unconscious. Once she was asleep on the ground, he pulled a small vial of liquid out of his pocket and crouched down, opening her mouth and putting just a small drop of it onto her tongue. It was the same stuff he used last time. She won't remember anything. Not even his name. He looked down at her disheveled, fainted body and scoffed condescendingly.

"Too easy." He leaned to his earpiece, "Acouchi. Chinchilla. Next route."

**"Yessir."**

"Leaf."


	7. The Captain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Captain is introduced.

He sat in the pilot room, at the largest control desk on the ship. Piloting the ship didn't take much energy, but it _did_ take a lot of skill. He hummed a familiar song. It was a made-up tune that he used to hum to himself during training school when his anxiety got the better of him. Of course- Not that he'd admit to anyone that he _has_ anxiety. He had to be perfect. He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair, daydreaming about the times he had while he was in training school.

\--

_"Hey, Capybara." He sighed, sitting down on the desk across from said 'Capybara'._

_"Hi." The boy replied, running a shaky hand through his hair._

_"What's wrong with_ you? _" He asked, grabbing Capybara by the wrist, yanking the hand away from the boy's hair. Capybara immediately snatched his hand back, clutching onto his wrist._

_"Nothing! Why are you always so mean to me?!" Capybara began to tear up, rubbing at his eyes._

_He scoffed, "Pshh, I am_ not _being mean!" He rolled his eyes, kicking Capybara in the shin, "Quit being such a child."_

\--

He woke up with a start, drenched in a cold sweat. He gasped, breathing heavily. He scrubbed his face down with his gloved hands, almost as if he was checking to make sure his face was still there. He heard something shift next to him and flinched at the noise, looking at what it was.

"Jesus, you're jumpy this morning." It was just William, sitting in the other chair in front of the control desk. He was clicking a pen impatiently while typing commands into the desk.

"What-" He sniffed and ran both of his hands through his hair, "What're you doing here...?" He cocked his head at William's presence. William snorted,

"Wh- Really? 'Think I'm _that_ stupid? You were 'a-fucking-sleep' while piloting the ship." William said, as if he was confirming it with him. He looked at William like he still didn't understand what the problem was, "You could've fucking crashed the ship, for God's sake!" 

William leaned back in his chair, covering his face with his hands; seemingly embarrassed that the captain's acting like this. 

He stood up, "You know what, Will? You clock in your shift. I'm going on break." He huffed loudly through his nose, taking his glasses off and cleaning them on his suit jacket. He returned the glasses upon his nose and turned away on his heel, towards the door.

"Whatever you say. _Boss_."

He placed his hand on the scanner next to the door, letting the ship system know he was leaving for a break. He mumbled to himself as he hastened through the halls, going to only God-knows-where.

"This is way too fucking much... I just- Calm down, think this out. I just-" Suddenly, he was yanked by the wrist into a small closed off alcove stemming off of the hallway and he felt something sharp against his jugular. He felt a hand on his right shoulder from behind while the captor's left hand held the knife to his throat. He struggled against his captor, and tried to reach for an alarm button against the wall before he was wrenched back out of sight. A voice emerged from behind him,

"Listen. We're going to make this _nice_ and _easy_. Okay? You're going to comply with me, or else we're going to just have to do things the hard way." The captor spoke in an unnatural sounding low voice - almost like they were lowering their regular voice in an attempt to sound scarier, "And trust me, I don't wanna have to hurt you!" Their voice turned into an - almost childish - whine.

He was confused, but nonetheless refused.

"Who the- Who the hell are you..." His voice came out strained and gravelly due to the knife against his neck.

"That's none of your goddamn business." They paused, "Unless you want it to be." The captor slid off their own bracelet and put it onto his wrist instead. They pulled a button out of their pocket and pushed it. The bracelet clamped tightly around his wrist and extended a robotic claw, clamping onto his other wrist too. He struggled against his new robotic handcuffs, trying to reach up and grab the knife from their hand. His captor pressed harder into his neck. He felt blood start to drip down the front of his neck, followed by pulsing pain.

"So... What's it gonna be?" They asked. He clenched his teeth,

"Let me tell you something. I will never be beneath _anyone_ on this ship. Including you."

His captor groaned, seemingly very annoyed.

"I guess it's the hard way then." With one hand, his captor pulled out a bottle that looked like it was meant to spray perfume and sprayed it in his face. He began to feel dizzy and light-headed. He felt them catch him before his vision went black.

\--

He woke up and all he could see was black. He felt himself sitting and tied to a chair of some sorts. He opened his mouth and tried to scream, but no sound came out. He heard a laugh,

"Oh my-! It looks like that bullet's been good to you, dear." He felt them kick at his newly robotic leg, "Tell me I have a good aim~! Obviously your leg thinks so..."

_"Who the fuck are you, you freak-?!"_

No sound came out of his mouth.

"Don't even try to call out for help. I already gave you a vial. Your voice won't allow you to make any verbal noise above a certain volume until the vial wears off." It was the voice of his captor. 

_"Who the hell-?!"_

No sound came out of his mouth. Quieter.

"Who the hell are you... and where the hell am I." He hissed. He heard the clicking and clacking of footsteps circling around him.

"Don't worry... You're still on your precious ship." They laughed. It wasn't even, like, an evil laugh or anything. It was like they actually just found something funny.

"What's so funny?" He spat, angrily; hoping he'd spit on his captor.

"I-I just-" Their voice was behind him now. They laughed again, "This isn't really _my_ job! I-I mean... I've never really done this before!" They continued to laugh.

"What? Kidnap someone? Sick bastard." In a way, the fact that they'd - supposedly - never kidnapped someone before comforted him. Maybe he'd escape with his life after all.

"Yup! Uh- Yeah... Um... I _really_ try not to do any permanent damage to people... I-It makes me feel bad. But, I guess I sorta failed." They clicked their tongue, like some sort of nervous tick. He felt them feeling the place that they'd cut his neck. "Hurting people sorta makes me sad." 

"Great. That makes two of us."

"Haha! Ah... You're funny." They let out a genuine laugh. More like a quiet giggle, but a laugh nonetheless.

"Um..." He really didn't know how to respond to his kidnapper and - perhaps murderer - complimenting him, "Thanks...?" He furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion, "Is this how you manipulate people? Some part of your big technique or something? Just... confusing them until they're vulnerable?"

"Wow! You're _smart_ too! I-I mean... I should've guessed! We _were_ in school together." They sighed in reminisce. He shook his head,

"What-" He gulped awkwardly, shifting in the chair, "What do you mean?"

They mock-gasped, "I'm offended you don't recognize me!"

"Sorta hard with the blindfold on, pal."

"Well I certainly recognize you!" They laughed, 

"You're Chip Tolentino."

Chip's mind froze and his heart stopped. No one ever called him that name except his family. For ten years, everyone had called him by his real name - Charlito.

"How..." His voice didn't want to let him talk, "How do you know that name...?"

They laughed loudly this time, "I already told you! We were in school together! Do I need to say it louder?"

"No." Was all Chip responded with, too scared to say anything else. 

"Well then... Who am I? Guess! C'mon~! Guess-sss!!" They moaned annoyingly. Chip shook his head again,

"No, if you know who I am, why don't you just tell me who _you_ are already?!" He tried to keep his voice down so his voice would still work against the vial.

"I'll give you a hint..." They hummed. He could hear them rocking back and forth on their feet, "You're... You are the only person I ever told my real name in school." They said it proudly, like it was an accomplishment. They sighed again, "Those were the good days... Huh?"

Different names, different people raced through his head, before one distinctly made itself apparent in the front of his mind.

"Leaf Coneybear." Chip tried to stand up in his chair, but to no avail, "Y-You're Leaf Coneybear."


End file.
